Sohm v. United States

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that prior to appointment of pro bono counsel, a district court should determine whether the plaintiff alleged a prima facie case
• instructing that the difficulty of the legal issues must be considered “in conjunction with ... the plaintiffs capacity to present his own case”
• explaining that “where the law is not clear, it will often best serve the ends of justice to have both sides of a difficult legal issue presented by those trained in legal analysis”
• explaining that in deciding whether counsel should be appointed, the Court first considers whether a claim or defense has “arguable merit in fact and law”
• noting that “we have traditionally given pro se litigants greater leeway where they have not followed the technical rules of pleading and procedure”
• explaining that in deciding whether counsel should be appointed, the Court first considers whether a claim or defense has “arguable merit in fact and law”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).